About One-Year Mission

NASA

The One-Year Mission is a stepping stone to future missions to Mars and beyond. It focuses on seven categories of research. In March 2015, American Astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko began collaborative investigations on the International Space Station (ISS). After they reside on the ISS for a year, twice as long as typical U.S. missions, scientists will be able to add to our knowledge on the medical, psychological and biomedical challenges faced by astronauts during long-duration spaceflight.

Milestones and Key points:

A future Mars mission would be approximately 30 months in duration

Kelly will be the first American to spend whole year (about 350 days) in space continuously

The mission builds upon the foundation of data from six-month missions on ISS and Mir

A Year in Space yields new insights into how the human body adjusts to weightlessness, isolation, radiation and stress of long duration spaceflight

The mission validates countermeasures for astronaut physical and mental well-being during longer space exploration missions in the future

The One-Year Mission is an embodiment of significant international collaboration in biomedical risk reduction research on ISS. Data collected on both the American and Russian crew members will be shared between the countries.